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Topic: The water bear - one of the best survivors ever (Read 9007 times)

Otherwise known as a [wiki]tardigrade[/wiki], it's a animal extremophile that is generally about a millimeter long when fully grown (so it is visible to the unaided human eye). It can survive in temperatures from nearly absolute zero to well above the boiling point of water, it can withstand pressures greater than those found in the deepest ocean trenches all the way to a vacuum, it can survive doses of radiation that are hundreds of times stronger than what a human can possibly survive, and they've been known to survive in these conditions for at least a decade, probably longer. The secret is that they dehydrate in these extreme conditions to 1% or so of their normal amount of water[1] and go into a state of stasis, which they come back out of when they rehydrate.

Apparently, they took these organisms into space and exposed them to vacuum for ten days, then rehydrated them, and more than 2/3 of the ones that were protected from solar radiation survived. Even more incredibly, some of them actually survived exposure to full solar radiation for that time frame.

those little guys are indestructible! They'd make great pets for the kids.

I'm getting a pair for my daughter. We are going to mate them, and share them with all the kids in the neighborhood! You wait and see. Everyone is going to want one! They will be hotter than pet ferrets.

Since I might find it a little difficult to tell the little boy moss piglets from the little girl moss piglets, I hope it is ok with god if I get one of the species that is parthenogenic. That way, I can be sure to get a positive return on my investment.

And just think. We can bring them EVERYWHERE. They can play in the ice on a cruise to Antarctica, and they'll be fine if we bring them to Yellowstone and the kids accidently drop them in Old Faithful. What's more, as space tourism develops, we can bring them along, let them play outside, and even bring them on spacewalks!

Well, it's cause they look alien to us - we're not used to seeing something that looks like that. There are some perfectly ordinary small animals that can look pretty scary to people who aren't used to them.

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Nullus In Verba, aka "Take nobody's word for it!" If you can't show it, then you don't know it.

Well, it's cause they look alien to us - we're not used to seeing something that looks like that. There are some perfectly ordinary small animals that can look pretty scary to people who aren't used to them.

Your quote reminds me of the classic SpongeBob where he encounters--to his absolute terror--a butterfly for the first time. The close-up shots of the "terrifying" butterfly are hilarious because they actually do look kind of scary!